The Moose Jaw U13 A Ice endured one of the toughest losses they’ve had in recent years at the Softball Sask provincial championships during the July 17 weekend -- but unlike most teams that take part in the event, they’ll have a great chance to redeem themselves.
That’s because the Ice are off to the Little League Softball Canadian Championship in Victoria, B.C. next weekend, with the ultimate goal of landing a spot in the World Series at the beginning of August.
They were hoping to do so as Saskatchewan champions, and all signs pointed in that direction throughout the provincial tournament in Regina as Moose Jaw won their first five games at the event.
But things changed dramatically in the final against the Regina Lazers. Regina would put up three runs in the first inning and follow up with the maximum five the next two frames, and just like that, a 13-2 mercy rule loss in the gold medal game.
“We’ve had their number the last two years and everything just came together for them, they were hitting the holes,” said Ice coach Shawn Okerstrom. “We didn’t even make a bunch of mistakes, either, they were all over us. It happens, it’s the way the game goes and it’s just too bad that it was the final…. We do it to teams a lot of the time and we had it done to us for once, that’s how it goes.”
The rest of the tournament was fine and dandy -- Moose Jaw opened things with three wins on July 15, including an 8-5 victory over the Twin City Angels, 10-9 win over White Butte and 7-0 shutout of the Regina Saints. A 17-5 win on July 16 over the Saskatoon Blazers gave the Ice first in their pool, setting up a semifinal tilt with Meadow Lake, their co-provincial champions from 2021.
There, the local crew would pound out a 12-4 mercy-rule win, putting themselves in prime position heading into the title game.
“The win over Meadow Lake was a big one for us,” Okerstrom said. “We took out some pretty good teams along the way, but we hadn’t beaten them this year, so we were pretty happy to get over them and move on. And then we ran into a brick wall in the final with the Lazers.”
Moose Jaw has put that loss behind them quickly, though, and they were back on the field for practice for the Little League Canadians this week.
The decision to take a crack at that tournament came out of Softball Canada not holding a U13 girls Westerns or Canadian championship this year and the Ice desire to try their hand at a higher calibre of competition.
“It was kind of disappointing since we were trying to take this to a new level,” Okerstrom said. “That was back in January or February, so we started looking at other options we could do to take this team a little further, and trying Little League seemed like a great option.”
Teams from Alberta, Quebec and the hosts from Victoria will join the Saskatchewan representative Ice at the event, which will feature two games for Moose Jaw on July 29, one game and a skills competition July 30 and the semifinal and final on July 31.
“We’ll do our best and see how we measure up,” Okerstrom said. “We’re a pretty good team we feel, and other than the provincial final we’ve been able to beat everyone in the province, so that’s maybe put a bit of a spark in the girls to not let that happen again. Hopefully that helps them turn it up for a bit for the games out there.”
The Ice took a bit of a hit with some players not being able to attend the event -- including standout pitcher Taryn Friesen -- but the team picked up Callie Heinrichs and Bryn Montgomery from Lafleche to fill those spots.
All in all, the Canadian championship promises to be a different look for the team, and one that will bring with it plenty of memories -- especially if they win the whole thing and move on to the World Series in Greenville, N.C. beginning Aug. 9.
“It’s all a level we haven’t experienced before, it’ll be a great experience and they’ll have a chance to meet girls from across Canada, which will be pretty neat,” Okerstrom said.
For scores and latest updates as the tournament draws nearer, be sure to visit www.littleleague.ca.
